1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to bistable expandable plastic bottles for storing and delivering concentrates such as fruit juices while the bottle is in a collapsed condition, thereafter expanding the bottle, reconstituting or diluting the concentrates in the expanded bottle and serving or dispensing the diluted or reconstituted product directly from the same expanded bottle.
The present invention further relates to such bottles and concentrates which are stored in a freezer prior to use, and which can be immediately expanded and diluted or reconstituted for immediate use upon removal from the freezer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Currently, the reconstitution of frozen juice concentrate is an unpleasant task. The frozen concentrate is sold in either fiber board or plastic cans. The frozen concentrate requires at least partial thawing to be removed from the container. Once removed, the concentrate must be placed in another container, a prescribed amount of water added, and then thoroughly mixed. All of this requires substantial time, effort, and anticipation if the reconstituted product is to be consumed at the rather hectic breakfast setting.
Many expandable and bellows containers have been described in the prior art and some in the context of expansion for the purpose of dilution or reconstitution of a concentrate. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,434,589 issued to Valtri on Mar. 25, 1969 discloses an expandable container to carry medical tablets. The user expands the container to receive water and dissolve the tablet for consumption. The device is shown collapsed in FIGS. 4 & 5 in a fashion similar to a compression spring which would cause substantial stresses to be placed upon the structure. The materials described for construction are polymers which will over time creep under stress. As a result, the container will not attain the volume and shape it originally exhibited when it is expanded after an extended period of storage in its collapsed condition.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,163,544 issued to Valyi on Dec. 29, 1964 describes in one embodiment a means for using a container of pleated or bellows shape to reconstitute frozen products such as juice. However, the patent does not describe any means by which the container supports itself after expansion other than to be placed inside a more substantial container.
Several patents (for example U.S. Pat. No. 3,473,524 issued to Drewe on Oct. 21, 1969) disclose means to provide bistable or over-center bellows action of devices comprised of polymeric materials. The bistable action causes the stresses to be released at either stable condition and hence creep of the polymeric material is minimized.
The collapsible bottle described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,492,313 issued to Touzani on Jan. 8, 1985 employs a latching bellows which is comprised of straight legged conical portions of which the lower inwardly directed portion is substantially smaller and at a much greater angle to the axis of the bottle than the upper outwardly directed portion. The stated purpose of the collapsible bottle is to reduce volume above carbonated beverages when the contents are partially used in order to minimize carbonation loss. The latching geometry described is intended to resist expansion once the bottle is collapsed.